The 3rd convocation ceremony of National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand held on Monday, 26th September 2022. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan Ji, Honourable Union Cabinet Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Govt. of India, was the Chief Guest.
On the occasion, Professor MC Govil, Hon’ble Director NIT Sikkim, Smt. Annapurna Nautiyal, Vice Chancellor, Garhwal Central University, Smt. Pamita Awasthi, Prof. NIT Hamirpur besides the Senate and Other dignitaries from academia, industry and government were present.
Hon’ble Chairman Board of Governors, Dr Ravindra Kumar Tyagi Ji, Founder Member of SAMDeS, revered members of the board of governors, members of the senate and other dignitaries from the academic world, industries and the government.
In this convocation, total 483 degrees were awarded to 06 PhD, 78 M. Tech. (Passing year 2021 and 2022) and 399 B. Tech. (passing year 2021 and 2022) students. The Directors Medal was awarded to Vatsala Shukla of Electrical and Electronics Engineering for getting highest CGPA from among the B. Tech. graduating batch 2021 and for the Year 2022, it was awarded to Mohit Gupta of Mechanical Engineering Department.The Convocation ceremony started with a majestic academic procession followed by the Vaidik mantra chanted by the students of the Institute.
Then Hon’ble Chairman BoG Sri Ravindra Kumar Tyagi ji declared the Convocation open, and this was followed by the welcome speech and presentation of the Director’s report.
In the welcome address Professor Lalit Kumar Awasthi, Director of the Institute, proudly informed that it is for the first time in the convocation of NIT Uttarakhand that “Vedic Mantras” were chanted during the movement of academic procession and Indian attire replaced the western Gown and Hat. He added that, now onwards, the Institute has permanently adopted the Indian attire for all the forthcoming convocations to foster a sense of national pride.
Prof. Awasthi, welcomed Honourable Union Cabinet Minister of Education Sri Dharmendra Pradhan Ji, and thanked him for his assurance to provide all possible support for establishing NIT Uttarakhand where the infrastructure facilities need to be devolved yet. He welcomed Dr. Ravindra Kumar Tyagi, Hon’ble Chairman BOG for gracing the occasion and giving his special attention and kind support to the Institute. He also welcomed all the dignitaries of the ceremony, students, their family and friends and all the individual present in the ceremony and congratulated all the degree recipients along with their family and friends for achieving a milestone in their career. He said that Devbhoomi Uttarakhand has an ancient and rich history and added that Garhwal and Kumaon region of “Devbhoomi” was known as KEDARKHAND and MANASKHAND in the holy “PURAN”s. He further said that the holy land of Uttarakhand has produced many freedom fighters and dignitaries in the fields like education, art and culture, defence, literature, sports etc and paid his tribute to all the freedom fighters, social activists and martyrs who have lost their lives for protecting the dignity of our motherland.
While presenting the report of the Institute Professor Awasthi presented the glimpse of recent achievements of the Institute. He happily informed that the Institute has achieved ranking 131 in NIRF 2022 with a jump of 55 institutions and its performance in “Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements” (ARIIA) has also improved and the Institute is placed in the “Promising” band in ARIIA 2021. He announced that the perception of the institute is enhanced by 150% since last year and we have set an ambitious goal of entering top 100 institutions in NIRF in 2023.
Presenting the placement data of the Institute, Professor Awasthi informed that during the placement session 2021-22, more than 75% students were placed at an average package of nine Lacs. He further informed that 05 students got placed above the package of 20 LPA, and 40 students got placement between 10 LPA and 20 LPA during this placement session. Moreover, the average package of students in 2022 has doubled than previous year.
Professor Awasthi further informed that NIT Uttarakhand has submitted a proposal on “Enhancement of Scientific Temperament in Uttarakhand: An NEP 2020 Approach” to the State Government for raising the standard of education in the state of Uttarakhand. The objective of this program is to train Senior- secondary schools’ teachers in subjects Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics through capacity building programmes.
Professor Awasthi informed about the infrastructural developments in the permanent campus and announced that the first phase construction of Sumari campus will be started soon to accommodate 1260 students on a land of 60 acres with approximate total construction cost of Rs. 596.75 crores. Institute has given nod to NBCC to float tender for Sumari campus. He thanked Hon’ble Chief Minister Sri Pushkar Singh Dhami Ji and Minister of Health, Education and Cooperative Sri Dr. Dhan Singh Rawat Ji for their continuous support. He further informed that the construction work at Srinagar campus of NIT, Uttarakhand is divided into two phases with approximate total cost of Rs. 78.45 crores. The Phase – I of construction consists of six blocks which will accommodate 530 students. For phase-II, the drawings have been finalized and the tender is being drafted which includes construction of offices of Director, Registrar, Deans, Classrooms, Indoor sports complex etc.
Professor Awasthi also presented other salient developments including implementation of NEP- 2020, creation of research facility in the Institute worth Rs. 4.6 crore through TEQIP-III scheme, establishment of “Career Counselling and Placement (C2P) Section, allocation of Rs 12.5 crores to nine departments of the Institute for strengthening the laboratories, sponsored research and consultancy projects grant for more than Rs. 4.18 Crores from different prestigious research organizations, DigiLocker platform to facilitate students to get their authenticated documents/certificates in digital format at anytime and anywhere, research publications, collaborations & collaborative research, awards, distinguished visitors, student activities, recruitments etc.
At last, Professor Awasthi invited all the graduating students and recipients of PhD degree as ambassadors of the Institute to continue their contribution to more success of the Institute and for the Nation.
Hon’ble Chairman (BoG) Address
Then, Hon’ble Chairman (BoG) Sri Ravindra Kumar Tyagi Ji addressed the convocation ceremony. In his address, he credited the chief guest Shri Dharmendra Pradhan Ji, with driving India’s energy transition, National Council for Vocational Training (NCVET) and very effective implementation of NEP-2020. He applauded the vision of Professor Awasthi in the implementation of NEP-2022 and to increase the intake of the institute to its full strength by developing infrastructure of the institute at its permanent campus. He further said that the institute will progress by leaps and bounds under his able leadership. He further expresses his commitment to guide and provide all help to the Institute.
After this the graduates were awarded their certificates and were charged by the Senate and the Director.
The Convocation ended with the Vote of Thanks by Dr. Dharmendra Tripathi, In-charge Registrar, followed by the National Anthem.
Hon’ble Chief Guest Message
After this, Dr. Dharmendra Tripathi, Registrar-in-Charge read out the message given by the Honorable Chief Guest Shri Dharmendra Pradhan on the occasion of the convocation. In his message, the Honorable Chief Guest while congratulating all the graduate students said that, “Today is a day of pride and joy for you and your proud parents. Dear students, from here onwards you will be on a new journey. The period of delight and joy will be over and the period of duty and challenges of life will begin. I have faith that the knowledge you attained from this prestigious institution by working hard day and night, will never let you down, and you will succeed in your profession. I am confident that along with getting success in your career you will also bring name and fame to your family, your prestigious institute, humanity and the country.” He further said “Dear students, You have to think about those underprivileged and less fortunate ones and use your knowledge for betterment of society. I hope that the skill and knowledge that you have attained will help to achieve the greater common goal that will positively impact less fortunate one’s.”
Hon’ble Education Minister, Shri Pradhan Ji pointed out that most of the industrial and societal problems existing today are complicated and cannot be solved by a particular discipline and requires collaboration of people of diverse expertise across a range of discipline together to achieve the research goal. He invited the prestigious institutions like IITs, NITs, AIIMs, IIMs to work together to solve the prevailing challenges for the benefit of the society and the country as a whole.
Hon’ble union minister said that the impact of artificial intelligence on our present day lives cannot be ignored. He motivated the graduating students to think about the designing and developing of low-cost innovative alternative energy models, innovation in specialised areas of semiconductor chip manufacturing, innovation in developing low-cost medical equipment’s etc by using the technologies like Artificial intelligence and machine learning. He invited the students to be the part of Start-up India campaign and become the future entrepreneur’s for providing jobs to others that will not only lead to economic empowerment and job creation, but will also lead to Purvodaya and a self-reliant India.
Hon’ble union minister congratulated NIT Uttarakhand for implementing NEP-2020 and adopting the Indian dress from their 3rd convocation. He further assured to provide all possible support to Prof. L K Awasthi for making all out efforts to establish this new NIT where infrastructure development is in infancy stage.